Monday, September 17, 2012

The Real Life Update

Once upon a time I would blog just about every single day! Now it looks like I am averaging once a month. Mostly this is because I am hesitant to blog about the two things that consume my life, so I end up not blogging at all.

I hesitate to blog about my pregnancy because I don't really think people want to hear about it all that much. Especially with my history of infertility, I get really turned off when people go on and on about pregnancy and childbirth, and yes, that applies to myself as well. If *I* don't want to hear about it, I can only assume that other people don't either! I also hesitate to blog too much about homeschool. I don't want to be one of those "in your face" homeschool people who can't shut up about it, but the reality is that I can't think about much else. So, if I don't want to blog about pregnancy or homeschool, there really isn't much else for me to write, so I just stay away! It dawned on me last night that I should just write about it anyway, and those who aren't interested can read the other 2 or 3 blogs that are out there! I mean, it isn't like everyone was fascinated by my 33,000 posts about potty training either, but that never stopped me!

So, here is the Real Life update on what is keeping me busy lately!

I am not really enjoying pregnancy. There, I said it. To be honest, I pretty much hate it. I would adopt again in less than a second if I had to choose. And to be even more honest, I still don't really relish the idea of adding another baby to our household. I sometimes feel guilty that after years of wishing and hoping for pregnancy I'm not just happy and grateful for the experience, but there it is. Once I got over the several months of nausea and sickness, I had one really great week. After that week it has been not so great. I had all sorts of plans for when I got feeling better- freezer meals, home improvement, cleaning and crafting.

What I didn't plan on was the complications that would come from the fibroids. Apparently they have what my doctors call "flare ups". For me it means that I will have 2-3 days of feeling what I call "normal pregnant"- tired, uncomfortable, a few aches and pains, but overall okay and I can get things accomplished. Those few days will be followed by several days of "flare up" when I have severe pain, nausea, and am pretty much confined to the couch with a stack of pillows, a heating pad, and spend the day debating if I should take narcotics or not. I really can't clean, I barely cook (if heating up frozen food and pulling yogurt and fruit out of the fridge counts as cooking), and leaving the house is a major chore. My due date is mid November, and although I know having a new baby is a lot of work, I am just really looking forward to being able to function again, being able to walk without pain, being able to sit or lay down, being able to move and cook and clean and just function in my life again.

On the bright side, homeschool is (finally) going great. There was a huge learning curve- a lot bigger than I had planned on. These past two weeks I feel like we are at least starting to hit our stride- accomplishing our work and getting things done without trying to do too much and overwhelming and frustrating everyone. I've figured out how to assign things, and the kids have figured out how to get their work done in a reasonable time frame. I've been able to scale way back on days when we've needed breaks, and ramped it up on days that we could do more.

We stay home a lot more than I would like- my vision of homeschool wasn't really for us to all just be at home all day every day, but due to the pregnancy factors, I really can't go to all the museums and field trips and adventures that I had originally dreamed of doing. I know the kids get bored, and we end up watching more tv than I would ever have normally allowed, but I keep thinking it is a short time in the overall scheme of things. Thankfully there have been some tender mercies, mostly in the form of meeting some new neighbors whose kids get along fantastically with ours, and they spend most afternoons waiting on pins and needles for them to finish homework so they can all play together. I absolutely love the homeschooling, I think the kids mostly tolerate it. Maybe they like it more than I realize, but they are pretty set on heading back to public school next year. We'll see if that changes any over the course of the year.

Usually I can manage to have enough energy to keep everyone moving and grooving through the homeschool day, we do our projects, and I do a bit of dishes or laundry. By the time the school day is done, I am wiped out and ready for a nap, so the kids entertain themselves for a bit until their friends come home from school. Then Kydon comes home and we figure out what to eat, and the day is pretty much over. Pretty fascinating stuff over here!

3 comments:

Sorry your pregnancy is miserable. And don't feel to bad, my first thought when I saw you were pregnant was, "Thank God it isn't me!." Yep, I too used to ache for that experience, now I dread the thought of it ever happening. Hopefully you can have more good days vs. bad and the rest of the pregnancy will pass by quickly.

That kind of sounds a lot like my life. Pregnancy is the pits, and with everything said, mine were pretty easy. I was happy to be a functioning human again. It took a while, but the good thing is, when the baby comes, it will be easy for a while. I mean, you know she will take tons of naps which will give you lots of time to do school. Sounds like you are doing a great job.

And who says you can't learn stuff watching tv. Don't be too hard on yourself.

We have all felt that way. I think the woman who has easy pregnancy and fast deliveries is rare, and it's annoying when they boast about it. Homeschooling is a journey, not a destination, but so is pregnancy, although, the destination of NOT being pregnant is fabulous. Rebecca had an uncomfortable time homeschooling that first year. I took her out in Oct. of 3rd grade, and she was used to school. When we came home in Feb, she wanted to go back and see her friends, but not school. I scrambled to find her friends, building relationships with the moms. Now we both have more friends then we did before because I'm friends with the moms, and we do a lot of the same extra curricular things with our kids. Now, she is opposite and can't stand not being able to see her friends as much, and both older kids watch the bus drive by at 4:30, when they would be getting home, but they have already been playing since noon. I agree with Kelly on educational dvds, even science projects, and not being too hard on yourself. I often have to adjust my expectations ;) Sonlight has cool science dvds, which are experiments they watch (and kind of gives you an excuse not to do them yourself) Hang in there! Good luck!

OUR CUTE FAMILY

About Me

I am a part time nurse and full time mom to my 3 cute kids- Abigail, Aidan and Jack. I enjoy quilting and traveling, reading, cooking, and home improvement projects. This blog is all about our family and kids. We were married for 7 years before bringing children to our family. We were then blessed with 3 in just 15 months! Our daughter, Abigail, is 8, and twins Jack and Aidan are 7.